Dagmar’s BlogHer 2010 Recap

BlogHer 2010 Recap

I attended my first blogging conference a few weeks ago, and here is my  BlogHer 2010 recap.

BlogHer ’10 was in New York City and I had to take advantage of it being so close to home.

I only went on Saturday, and it was a whirlwind of a day.

I got to hang out and chat with all three of my blog role models I really wanted to meet. What a thrill!

After making my way to New York City by train, I had breakfast with a few blogging mommies and listening to the morning keynote. The panel included international activist bloggers who won a BlogHer scholarship prize.

Those ladies were so inspiring, using blogging as a means to uncover and protest the living conditions in their countries where women are still treated like second-class citizens and don’t get much education.

It was very humbling and powerful to listen to them. What a great tool blogging is — these women now get to tell the whole world about their lives and no one can stop them because the Web is the big equalizer.

When I saw Gina, The Feminist Breeder, out of the corner of my eye, I went straight up to said hi and gave her a hug. We both write passionately about our experience with breastfeeding and have become Twitter and blog friends.

The day before she had announced (via Twitter) that she found out she was pregnant with her third child, which I know she had longed for very much, so it was so lovely to be able to congratulate her.

We chatted for a while — I love the fact that her husband, who had come with her, is so supportive of her blogging and likes being called the “Hyphenated Husband” — and then went upstairs to see the first session we had both decided to attend, Radical Blogging, with another one of my role models of lactivism, Annie from PhD in Parenting.

Annie is such an eloquent writer about breastfeeding and other issues.

I love her journalistic approach — when she gets wind of an issue she goes to town researching it in detail, which I really appreciate and want to do more myself.

(I actually did — take a look at this long post I wrote: Gisele Bundchen, We Don’t Need a Breastfeeding Law — Mothers Need Resources and Encouragement).

She just moved back to Canada after living with her family in Berlin for a while — where my brother lives — so prior to BlogHer we had been tweeting a bit about her experience in Germany.

Completing the trio I definitely wanted to meet at BlogHer was Amy, the Crunchy Domestic Goddess, who I ran into before the session and invited to sit with us. And I also got to meet Jill from Baby Rabies.

Annie, Amy, Gina and I were taking a stand at BlogHer ’10 against Nestle, one of the conference’s sponsors. You can read more about why we are so outspoken against Nestle here: Breastfeeding, the Nestle Boycott, and BlogHer 2010 and why Annie and I decided to still attend BlogHer ’10.

After that inspiring session, I went to have lunch with Gina and Jill. Sitting next to two pregnant ladies made me long for my own little bump :) There were a few moms with their babies, but the one I had hoped to run into — Baby Makin(g) Machine who came with her daughter Lil’ J who was only a month old — I didn’t get to meet.

She has also become a blogging/Twitter friend, and it would have been wonderful to meet face to face. I caught a glimpse of That Danielle nursing her little boy and we smiled at each other, but we didn’t get to talk.

It was time to explore the halls full of sponsor booths, and on my way I ran into Ree Drummond, THE Pioneer Woman. Ree’s blog is super popular and successful — for good reasons.

Her story is interesting — raising and homeschooling her four kids on a cattle ranch — her photography is stunning, and her cooking famous and published in books.

The exhibitor halls were a swag fest. All I have to say is: I’m thankful to have more Boiron homeopathic flu medicine at home, and I grabbed some extra Play-Doh for Landon. I avoided the Stouffer’s and Butterfinger booths like the plague (Nestle boycott).

I attended one more session — about monetizing a blog — and the closing keynote, and then I had to get ready for the Nate Berkus Show launch party I had been invited to.

I had to miss all the other parties that were going on at BlogHer, but this party was too exclusive to pass up. Thank goodness it was only a block away, because I could only walk that far in my sexy shoes I changed into.

I wish I would have taken a picture of them, but I got something far better — a picture of Nate and me:

I kid you not, I was talking him into having a show about breastfeeding!

He had invited about 20 other mom bloggers besides me to find out what we would like to see on his show, so I took the opportunity to tell him what a big difference a show that informs moms about breastfeeding not being so easy in the beginning and all the health benefits for moms would make.

He was interested and told me to talk to his producer. I did and also grabbed a producer from Oprah, who happened to be  there — Nate was on the Oprah show for nine years. Can you imagine the huge impact it would have if people were educated about breastfeeding through Oprah during her last season?

I saw Corine (Complicated Mama), Jennifer James from Mom Bloggers Club and several other mom bloggers I knew from previous events at Nate’s party, and I had a wonderful time.

I was sad to have to leave early and not be able to mingle and party with the other bloggers, but it had been a long, fun-filled day and I was positively exhausted and ready to head home. I have so many great pictures from the Nate event, I’m going to write a separate post about it.

I learned so much in just one day and I’m exited to implement all the new ideas I got for my blog. BlogHer 2011 will be in San Diego, and I’d love to go.